Royal
Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh
Five stars
Isobel
McArthur’s audacious and thoroughly (post) modern pop-tastic remix of Jane
Austen’s girl-powered rom-com has already cleaned up in terms of audience and
critical acclaim. This has been the case both when the Blood of the Young
company first brought Paul Brotherston’s breathless production to the Tron in
Glasgow in 2018, as well as throughout its current UK tour.
This
time out, and with the Lyceum on board as co-producers, the sisterhood has been
expanded for McArthur and co.’s turbo-charged pot-pourri of proto-feminist fire
and prime-time cork-popping froth. Where before there were five performers
play-acting Austen’s dissection of love and life in nineteenth century ballrooms
from a servants’ eye view, now there are six. The addition of Felixe Forde to
the fold doesn’t in any way demean the quick-fire romp through the romantic
merry dance that plays out between ferocious she-punk in waiting Lizzy Bennett
and mono-syllabic nice guy toff Darcy. Rather, it actually makes things even
better, elevating the action by several notches.
This
makes for a profoundly joyous confection that stays faithful to Austen’s
original while flirting precociously with a pick and mix of theatrical tricks
that add a whole range of flavours to an already sumptuous rites of passage. Ana
Ines Jabares-Pita’s grandiloquent design and Simon Hayes’ lighting give space
enough for Emily Jane Boyle’s choreography to breathe, while Michael John
McCarthy’s musical supervision mines jukebox, karaoke and dancefloor favourites
to power things along in the spirit of a Crackerjack pantomime.
Throughout
all this, Meghan Tyler as Lizzy and McArthur as Darcy character-hop their way
through the dressing up box alongside Forde and an equally playful Tori
Burgess, Christina Gordon and Hannah Jarrett-Scott as the other Bennett
siblings and a whole lot more besides, heroines every one. As Lizzy, Darcy and
co take a lover’s leap towards a liberated future, the end result of this theatrical
whirligig is a kick-ass delight from start to finish.
The Herald, January 27th 2020
Ends
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